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Japan Today
28-05-2025
- Business
- Japan Today
High court orders Tokyo gov't, state to compensate 3 for illicit company probe
A Japanese high court on Wednesday ordered the Tokyo metropolitan government and the state to compensate a company president and others for an unlawful investigation into the alleged unauthorized export of goods capable of producing biological weapons. The Tokyo High Court ruled the investigation on Masaaki Okawara, 76, president of machinery maker Ohkawara Kakohki Co, and two other men was illegal. The court ordered the state and Tokyo to pay about 166 million yen in compensation, up about 4 million yen from the amount awarded by the lower court. A Tokyo police investigator testified at the lower court that the case was "fabricated," and a former investigator told the high court that people with discretion built the case "out of greed." The plaintiffs had appealed the Tokyo District Court ruling that awarded the compensation to Okawara, Junji Shimada, a former director of the company, and the family of former adviser Shizuo Aishima, who died in 2021 after falling ill during detainment, insisting court findings on the maliciousness of the investigation by police and prosecutors were insufficient. The state and the metropolitan government had also appealed, arguing their investigation was legal and seeking a rejection of the plaintiffs' appeal. The Metropolitan Police Department said it will decide on its response after thoroughly examining the latest ruling. Prosecutors withdrew the indictment in July 2021, but Aishima died due to stomach cancer at age 72 in February of that year before redeeming his honor. The plaintiffs sought 560 million yen in damages in the lawsuit filed in September 2021, claiming the items in question -- spray dryers that can atomize liquids and turn them into powder through a quick drying process -- were not subject to export restrictions. The Yokohama-based firm is Japan's leading maker of spray dryers, widely used to produce food products such as instant coffee, baby formula, medicine and ceramics. The three men were arrested in March 2020 on suspicion of exporting spray dryers capable of producing biological agents without authorization. Okawara and Shimada spent 332 days in custody until they were released on bail in February 2021. © KYODO
28-05-2025
- Business
High Court Orders Japan, Tokyo Govts to Compensate over Probe
Tokyo, May 28 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo High Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court ruling ordering the Japanese and Tokyo metropolitan governments to pay about 166 million yen in damages over investigations into a case against spray-dryer maker Ohkawara Kakohki Co. Teruyoshi Ota, presiding judge at the high court, backed the December 2023 ruling by Tokyo District Court that found the investigations by the Metropolitan Police Department and the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office into the company over its alleged improper exports illegal. The plaintiffs are the company based in Yokohama, near Tokyo, CEO Masaaki Okawara, 76, former executive Junji Shimada, 72, and the family of former adviser Shizuo Aishima, who died at the age of 72 in February 2021 after being found to have stomach cancer while being detained. In 2020, Okawara, Shimada and Aishima were indicted on charges of illegally exporting a spray dryer that might be repurposed to make biological weapons. The charges were withdrawn the following year. In the trial at the high court, the company side argued that the police had the industry ministry distort its interpretation of export control standards, citing as new evidence memos of the investigations and testimonies by investigators. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
